Eight weeks along in the projects, we've had two interim crits (including the so-called thesis prep exam) and the projects have reshaped themselves to focus on one key societal issue within the context of an architectural design task specifying site and program. The semester has come to an end but with another crit scheduled for early January, there is not much time for putting one's feet up. Fortunately, the break does offer time for site visits, further data collection and the necessary reflection.
Vinod has zoomed in on a particular site along the Delhi railway corridor that offers the necessary ingredients to explore his ideas for improving social and economical conditions for the increasing slum population in a more concrete form, without necessarily loosing track of the broader idea targeting the entire railway corridor.
In targeting architectural adaptation to climate change, Lee Sian Chyun has identified Singapore's east coast as particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels and is suggesting a combination of defense interventions (including dykes, storm breakers and mangrove forests) with floating modules that serve both a defense function and also as a refuge in case of a flooding disaster. At the same time, these modules may allow for self-sustaining settlements.
Tan Yong Shen will apply his exploration of customized joints in the context of design for disassembly to the site of the pit building of the Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix. Considering the limited time span this event may be held at the Marina Bay (the current agreement is for five years), the pit building is a perfect example of a limited life-span building that could benefit from a design for disassembly methodology. Rather than considering the current pit building as it has been designed and constructed, Yong Shen will redesign the pit building considering customized joints, then consider a second design, of a different program, on the same site to fully test his ideas.
Chin Qian Lyn is exploring the use coexistence of nature and resource degradation, in particular, the Pulau Semakau landfill of ashes from the waste incineration plants. The landfill, adjoining a nature reserve, will be completely full by 2045 and will be ready for a new function. Qian Lyn is addressing the question of what kind of a program can be achieved on a landfill of ashes, that relates to the adjoining nature reserve but takes into account the toxicity of the ashes and at the same time acts as a reminder of the origins of the landfill.
Cheong Grace in her project is addressing the relatively limited life-span of HDB housing (most or all of which are being demolished and replaced far before their technical end of life) and the trends identified by HDB relating to the composition of households. She has identified a number of different block types that she will explore and analyze with respect to a number of issues concerning flexibility and performance in order to identify block types that may yield longer life-spans.
Finally, Tony Wijaya is developing a large parametric model for a terminal (the intended fourth terminal) for the Soekarno-Hatta international airport near Jakarta to explore the potentials of minimizing the building footprint, selected issues of energy consumption and issues of performance with respect to passenger and airplane movements.
